


Life Emulation

by Anonymous



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Choose Not To Tag, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29097123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Kim suffered a career injury ending injury during cheerleading in her freshman year. Four years have passed and she's juggling working part time at a burger shop and night classes at the community college.
Relationships: Dr. Drakken/Kim Possible/Shego
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2020





	Life Emulation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neosaiyanangel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neosaiyanangel/gifts).



Kim’s mind was slowly starting to wake up. Dreams of being a jet-setting adventurer and hero faded away as the smell of stale beer reminded her of the real world. Those dreams were always amazing. Even worse than losing the dreams was feeling like a piece of Kim’s heart was missing.

When her eyes opened, she was greeted by a living room with pizza boxes scattered everywhere. Ron and Wade sat on the floor, in the center of the pile of trash, playing video games. It was some type of fighting game. 

Pushing aside the sleeping bag, Kim stretched out her arms as she sat up.

“Morning, Kim,” Ron said without looking at her.

“Morning,” Wade echoed.

“Monique have a boyfriend over last night?” Ron asked.

“Yeah,” Kim said as she got up off the couch. “I didn’t want to intrude when they were being intimate.”

“We put some leftover pizza in the fridge. You can help yourself to it,” Wade said.

“Thanks, guys.”

Kim walked to the kitchen, moving with a slight limp. She’d taken a bad fall in cheerleading back in her freshman year of high school. Even after four years of physical therapy, she’d never fully recovered from it. 

The kitchen was just as messy as the rest of their rented townhouse. The garbage can was overflowing with trash. Food had been thrown into the recycling bin. The sink was stacked high with unwashed dishes, little bugs flying around them. She opened the stained fridge door and looked inside. A pizza box had been shoved inside, resting on top of takeout containers on a glass shelf with multiple brown stains.

Kim grabbed the pizza box and set it on top of a chair, the only empty surface in the kitchen. When she opened the box, she found a half dozen slices of pizza with different toppings. She went to the cupboard and searched for any sort of plate. She couldn’t find that, but she did find a plastic lid from the container that her mother had used to send them chocolate chip cookies. She put three slices of pizza on it and stuck it into the microwave, the inside of which wasn’t horrible because Kim had cleaned it two days ago. She hit sixty seconds and waited. 

As the pizza slowly turned in the microwave, Kim bagged up the garbage, placing it by the back door. The garbage cans were down just a few steps, but it was hard for Kim to take it down herself. She put a new liner in the garbage can and tossed a few pieces of garbage that had fallen out of the bin when she was bagging it up. By the time she had done this, the microwave had finished.

She took her pizza on the makeshift plate and headed back to the living room. She sat back down on the same couch that she had spent the night sleeping in and curled her legs up to eat, idly watching Ron and Wade beat up each other’s digital fighters.

“I bagged up the garbage. Can one of you guys take it out for me? It’s right next to the back door,” Kim asked.

“Sure thing, Kim. Right after we’re done playing,” Ron said.

“Thanks.” Kim grabbed the slice of pepperoni pizza and started to nibble on that one first. It tasted alright but would have been better fresh.

She could hear moving around upstairs. Soon, Monique was coming down the steps. The easy smile on her lips told how well last night had gone without needing to ask.

“Morning,” Kim said.

“Kim, Brad is going to be staying for a few more days. Would you mind sleeping on the couch while he’s here? Please,” Monique asked.

Kim really didn’t want to be kicked out of the room that was as much hers as it was Monique’s for a vague number of days. It was one thing to sleep on a couch for a single night, another thing to sleep on it for the foreseeable future. But Brad did go to college in a different city and Monique rarely got to spend time with him in person.

“Sure, I don’t mind. I just need to get some things from in there.”

“You’re the best!” Monique had the biggest, happiest smile on her face. “Brad is still sleeping so now is a good time.”

Kim set her pizza aside on the end table next to the couch. She went upstairs to the bedroom she shared with Monique. On Monique’s bed, Kim could see an indistinct form completely covered with blankets. Quietly, Kim grabbed her uniform for work, a second top, and her backpack. She shut the door softly on her way out of the room.

It was really time for Kim to start getting ready for work anyways. Kim stuffed the second top into her backpack, leaving it next to the top of the steps before she went past the boys’ room and headed to the bathroom. 

The bathroom was just as dirty as the kitchen. The tub was discolored from how dirty it was. Brown stained the inside of the toilet bowl. The small garbage can under the sink was so full that the lid couldn’t close.

Kim hung her uniform on the hook on the back of the door. She stripped off everything she was wearing, before turning on the shower. Once the water was pleasingly hot, just a hair bellow where it would be uncomfortable, Kim got into the shower and closed the curtains. She closed her eyes and just focused on the sensation of the water hitting her body, the smell of it, as it came out. She took a few minutes and just focused on what she was feeling and nothing else. Then she opened her eyes, grabbed her cute pink loofah, and started to wash herself up. 

The scent of her soap and then her shampoo were both relaxing, drowning out all of the other scents. It let her forget about the state of the house and her eternal battle to clean up after all four of them. 

It was all over too soon, and Kim was stepping out and onto the ratty bathroom rug. She went for a towel and discovered there were none left. Kim sighed and looked around at her options. With no other choice, she grabbed the shirt she had been wearing before and used it to dry herself off.

Kim dressed in the striped, collared shirt and the khakis that were part of her work uniform. She took a few extra minutes to do her hair and makeup. Just because she had to work at a place with zero fashion sense didn’t mean that she had to sink to their level.

Once she was satisfied with how she looked, Kim left the bathroom. She grabbed her backpack from the top of the steps and headed down. Ron and Wade hadn’t moved from where they were playing video games.

“Bye guys,” Kim said with a wave.

The boys gave her a halfhearted goodbye.

With her bus pass in hand, Kim walked the two blocks to the bus stop. She sat on the hard bench and watched the traffic go by. She ignored the advertisement right next to her for Banger University, one of the many that she had applied to.

It was depressing to think about what her life could have been like if it hadn’t been for that fall. If she hadn’t been injured, she could have gotten an athletics scholarship for any number of universities. Then with how much rehab she had needed, Kim’s grades had dropped at school. She was still able to pass comfortably, but they weren’t good enough for any type of scholastic scholarship. Of course, she’d tried anyways, she’d applied for every grant, loan, and scholarship that she was remotely qualified for. Kim had gotten nothing but rejection. Kim wasn’t going to ask her parents to pay for something as expensive as college, not when they had sacrificed so much for her medical bills, even with her parent’s insurance there had been a lot of out-of-pocket costs. Kim did they only thing she could do, she worked as many hours as she could at a fast-food restaurant, then in the evening she attended classes at the community college. The credits would all transfer if she was able to get into and find a way to pay for one of the colleges she really wanted. As an added bonus, both her professor and her coworker were really cute.

Kim was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the approaching bus. She got up off of the bench as the bus slowed down and stopped right in front of her. The bus driver didn’t lower the bus for her, but he always did pull up as close to the curb as he could get for her. The door opened and Kim climbed on with a friendly smile. She flashed her bus pass before going to sit in one of the seats halfway back, on the driver’s side of the bus.

She spent the hour-long bus ride reading one of her textbooks for class.

Once she got off the bus it was an additional three block walk to work. 

As Kim approached the overly bright colors were a neon stab to the eyes when set against the drab brick buildings that surrounded it. As she got closer, she could see all the dirt on the exterior that had never once been washed away, unless you counted the infrequent rainstorms. The mascot with too big of a smile beckoned customers with what should have been an inviting smile, but instead was more like a creepy man trying to lure victims into his basement so that he could butcher them and grind their meat into making cheap hamburgers. The sign out front should have read Burger Shack, but the S was missing and so it said Burger hack.

Kim went inside, there were no customers. Behind the counter was Sheena Gough. Sheena was a beautiful woman with black hair. She was filing her nails, but overall managed to look perfect despite the ugly uniform. Sheena casually looked up at Kim.

“Boss wants to see you in his office,” Sheena said.

Kim winced. “Okay, was he mad?”

“Yes.”

Kim winced. “Alright.”

She quickly put her backpack in the back room before going to her boss’ office and knocking on the door. This was not going to go well. Kim could not recall having a single good conversation with her boss.

“Get in here, Possible.”

Kim opened the door just wide enough to slip in, before shutting it behind her. She sat down in a plastic upholstered chair. The cheap lights overhead harshly lit the barren office that was all shades of metal grey.

Her boss, a middle aged, balding man, sat at his desk and looked up at her. His lips were frowning under his pencil mustache. His uniform barely fit, being too tall for him in the arms, but not broad enough across the shoulders.

“Do you know why I called you in here?”

“No.”

“You are far too slow at doing your job! I tell you to do something and you take twice as long as anyone else.”

“I can’t physically move from place to place as fast as everyone else!” Kim protested as she gestured towards her leg.

“Typical, lazy teenager. You don’t want to do the work and expect to be treated special by everyone else. There are a lot of people who would kill to have your job. You are lucky I even gave someone with zero work experience a job. Get your ass in gear or get out of my restaurant.”

Kim balled up her fists, clenching the fabric of her khakis between her fingers. “I understand. Is there anything else you want?”

“That is all. Get to work, and no slacking.”

Kim slipped out of the office and back to the kitchen area. Sheena took care of the register and handling everything in the front. Kim handled everything in the back. When she wasn’t making orders she was supposed to be cleaning. It didn’t do much good. The kitchen looked just as dirty after cleaning as before.

A ding notified her of an order. Kim looked up at the screen which displayed an order of six burgers, six fries, three sodas, two lattes, and a coffee. None of the burgers were standard, all of them had some form of modification to them.

Kim put the mop down and went to the hand washing station. She quickly washed her hands before putting on fresh gloves. Heading over to the burger making station she pulled out the patties that she would need. When she opened up the lettuce drawer, she found all of it brown and wilted. Kim made a face. She quickly checked the others and found that the tomatoes, mayonnaise, and avocados had also all gone bad. Kim quickly tossed the bad food in the garbage before heading towards the walk-in fridge for replacements. She managed to carry everything with her back to the sandwich making station. She had to put on new gloves after going into the fridge. 

The order was flashing red on the screen. Kim made the order as fast as she could, but a second one flashed across the screen. While Kim had the standard sandwiches memorized, with all of them being customized she had to stop and double check everything. By the time she had the order packaged and out, there were another two orders on top of the one that had already popped up. At least she didn’t have to worry about drinks, Sheena took care of those.

Kim was working nonstop for three hours before the orders finally stopped coming. Every time she was about to catch up on orders, she’d get a large number of customized orders or she’d run out of something and would have to take the time to go get it from the walk-in.

Without any orders, and no one even at the counter. Kim took the opportunity to bag up the garbage and start to carry it to the back door. She didn’t notice it catch on the corner of the counter and the big ripped open, spilling the contents on the floor.

Kim resisted the urge to get mad. She went and grabbed another bag to start shoveling the trash into.

“You’re always making a mess of things, Kimmy,” Sheena said. Despite her less than kind words, Sheena crouched down next to Kim and started to help her clean up the mess.

Kim gave Sheena a smile. “Thanks, Shego.”

“What was that?” Sheena confusedly asked.

“I said ‘Thanks, Sheena.’”

“That’s not what it sounded like you said. It sounded like you called me Shego.”

“Shego?” It was Kim’s turn to be confused. Why would she call Sheena ‘Shego’? It did have a nice ring to it and the name definitely seemed to suit her. It sounded like a member of the famous Team Go, though everyone knew they were all male.

“That’s what you said.” Sheena was starting to sound frustrated. “I’m going to go clean the bathrooms.” She got up and walked away.

Carefully, Kim navigated the restaurant kitchen with the bag. She didn’t have to go up or down any steps with it, which was a relief, but it was still a pain to get it into the dumpster. 

Kim came back inside to find more orders waiting for her to fulfill. The rest of her shift went by quickly and she never had a chance to take a lunch break. When the next shift arrived, Kim grabbed her backpack and headed to the ladies’ room, passing Sheena on the way. The bathroom was surprisingly clean. Kim quickly swapped her uniform top for a much cuter tank top. She ran a brush through her hair to try and do something with it, but she couldn’t make it any neater after being stuck under a hair net for hours in a greasy kitchen. Kim sighed. One of these days she’d like to go to class without looking like a mess.

She left the bathroom and found Sheena leaning against the counter, waiting for her. There were two bags of takeout and two drinks with her.

“That one is yours,” Sheena said.

They weren’t allowed to take food from the restaurant. But no one ever tried to stop Sheena when she did. While Sheena and Kim weren’t close friends, Sheena seemed to like screwing over Burger Shack and so would always have a second to-go meal ordered for Kim.

“Thanks,” Kim said as she took her food and drink. They left together and started walking to the bus stop. “How is the job search going?”

“Horrible. They won’t hire me to be a bouncer anywhere. They just take one look at me and tell me I’m not what they are looking for. Then I beat them up.”

Kim had seen Sheena beat people up before. The two of them always worked the same shift and it was always just the two of them. They’d had people refuse to pay, people making unwanted advances on the two of them, and even a few robbery attempts. Sheena never bothered to call the police, she just beat them up with her bare hands.

Sometimes, in Kim’s dreams of being an adventurer, she’d be fighting Sheena as an equal. 

“How are the roommates?” Sheena asked.

“They are… uh… fine.”

“That bad? I could beat them up.”

Kim laughed. “Thanks, but I think I can handle it. They’re all my friends.”

The two arrived at the bus stop and waited. Sheena’s bus arrived first. Kim’s a few minutes later. The ride was shorter than the one to work, only lasting fifteen minutes. She was in the classroom thirty minutes before class was supposed to start. It gave her plenty of time to eat her food. It wasn’t that they weren’t allowed to eat during class, the professor didn’t mind, it was that she liked having her full concentration on class.

“You are here early again, Ms. Possible.”

“Hi, Professor Lipsky,” Kim said brightly. She’d found him cute in an older, teacher way ever since the start of the semester. “I just got off of work. I didn’t have time to do anything else anyways.”

“What did you think of the readings?” He leant against the wall near Kim’s chair.

“It was really interesting.” Kim wouldn’t call biology her passion, but she did need to learn it to pass this class. Professor Lipsky did manage to make things easy for her to understand. She just wished her classmates treated him with any respect.

“Since no one else is here, I wanted to talk to you about your homework. You always do well when you turn it in, but you don’t turn it in very regularly.” His eyes were full of concern with just a touch of disappointment.

Kim winced at the look. She didn’t like disappointing Professor Lipsky. He tried so hard to teach them. Also, he was cute. “I want to do the work, Professor. It is just I spend most of the time either working or cleaning up after my roommates. I only get to work on homework when I’m riding on the bus.”

Professor Lipsky nodded thoughtfully as Kim spoke. “Is it possible to move out or get different roommates?”

“I don’t have anyone else to move in and if I move out then they won’t be able to pay rent anymore.” With the others being full time college students, they couldn’t afford to work very much. She was pretty sure that they had work studies, but those were low paying and were limited in how many hours they could work. Kim made more money than the rest of them. If it wasn’t for her they would lose the house and she couldn’t do that to them, not after they had stuck by her in high school and all through her rehab. She just wasn’t that type of girl.

“That’s a very admirable view and you are a good friend.” Professor Lipsky paused. “You also have a responsibility to yourself and your grades. I can give you an extra credit assignment to try and make it up, but you’re going to have to do the work yourself.”

“I understand. Thank you.” Kim gave him a warm smile. A chance to make up the missed homework was more than she could have ever wished for. She had written that off as a loss.

Kim finished her food as her classmates started to trickle in and Professor Lipsky went to the head of the classroom to prepare for class. She looked around at her classmates, but they all blended together. Kim could never keep anyone’s name straight and nothing about anyone ever seemed to stand out. They all had a samey, attractive quality, they were all loud, they were all dressed fashionably, and none of them took class seriously. Everyone ignored her. She had never exchanged even a greeting with any of them, despite trying. 

All their attention was on Professor Lipsky. They would yell insults at him. If he left any of his belongings unattended, they would mess with them. Once a student had thrown up in the professor’s briefcase. They would change his writing on the chalkboard. One time he had left the computer logged in and they used his email to send embarrassing messages to other teachers.

It made Kim angry. Professor Lipsky was a nice man. He didn’t deserve all of this bullying from the young men and women that were supposed to be learning from him. She wanted to do something about it, but what could she do? She was only one girl. She’d tried to complain in the offices hoping they could do something, but they just sent her on her way with false reassurances that it would be taken care of. No one would even acknowledge her when she spoke to them. Physically stopping them was also out of the question.

At the end of class, as Professor Lipsky was trying to return papers to them, one student knocked them all out of his hands as the class filed out, laughing as one. Kim rushed over and helped the professor gather everything up. They couldn’t just leave the tests there for the janitors to clean up.

“Thank you, Ms. Possible.”

“You’re welcome, Professor.” Kim handed over the stack of papers.

“Here, this one is yours.” Professor Lipsky handed over Kim’s test with a large A on the top.

Kim took her test and stuffed it into her backpack. “See you next time.”

“Have a safe trip home.”

Kim hurried out of class as fast as she could. It would be close. The last bus for the day would be coming any minute. If she didn’t catch it, she’d be forced to choose between a taxi that she couldn’t afford or trying to walk home. There were no cars in sight in either direction down the road. When Kim got to the bus stop, she glanced nervously down the street. When she saw the bus in the distance, she let out a sigh of relief. She’d made it in time. 

The bus came down the road, its loud engine drowning out the sounds of the night. It didn’t even slow down as it rolled right past Kim.

“Wait!” Kim impotently cried out.

The bus just kept on going.

Kim wanted to scream or break something. It wasn’t fair! She’d made it in time and the bus had just gone straight past her. Now she was going to have to figure out how she was going to get home.

She heard a sputtering engine. Kim turned her head to see a beat-up old car pulling out of the school’s parking lot and head in her direction. It stopped next to her and the passenger window rolled down. Crushed in between the driver’s seat and the steering wheel was Professor Lipsky.

“Is everything alright, Ms. Possible?” 

“The bus drove by me.”

“Do you want a ride?”

“Yes!” Kim didn’t stop to think about how it could look with her getting a ride from her teacher. She also didn’t think about how either of them could get in trouble. Kim definitely didn’t think of any danger to her person as she opened the passenger door. She was just happy to have a way home with her cute looking professor.

Kim gave Professor Lipsky directions. At first the drive was easy, and they didn’t encounter any other cars. As they got closer to her home, they found street after street gridlocked. No matter what street or road they tried, it was the same.

“We’re a lot closer now. I could walk the rest of the way.” It would still take her a few hours, but she might actually get some sleep before she had to get up in the morning for work.

Lipsky frowned. “It’s very late and I’m worried about how long it would take you to get there.”

“I could just spend the night at your place,” Kim said lightly, followed by a laugh.

Lipsky was also laughing.

They were both laughing, until they weren’t.

Kim and Lipsky were looking at each other. While she had been joking when she made the suggestion, she found herself wanting to spend the night at his place. She knew that he felt the same way.

“We aren’t far from my apartment,” Lipsky said.

The car turned a corner, and they were going a different direction. Even though Kim had never been in this part of town, it had the same dirty, run down look as where she lived. If Kim didn’t know better, she’d think that they passed the same houses that her bus passed. There were no vehicles on the road at all once they turned away from the traffic jam. They stopped outside of a rundown looking apartment building.

Lipsky led Kim inside the apartment building. The floor was covered in carpet so dirty that it was impossible to tell what its original color was. The walls were discolored from water damage and Kim thought she saw a few scorch marks on the other end of the hall. Lipsky led Kim up five sets of steps that dangerously creaked under their weight. The fifth floor was just as dirty as the lower floors, but the lights didn’t work right and half of them were off while the rest fitfully flickered on and off. Lipsky led her to the second apartment on the left.

“I know I have my keys somewhere.” He searched around his person and checked all of his pockets twice before he found his apartment keys. The lock turned easily for the key but getting the door to open required Lipsky to shove the door with his shoulder. It opened as he made a little noise of pain and rubbed his shoulder. “Make yourself comfortable.” Lipsky stepped inside.

Kim stepped inside. It was run down. The furniture looked old. The television was ancient. The paint on the walls had faded and there was a draft even after she shut the apartment door behind her. It was clean. There was no garbage on the floor. She couldn’t smell anything rotting. Even though the townhouse she lived in with Ron and the others was in better condition and had newer furnishings, she preferred this older, but cleaner apartment. Besides, if there was one thing, she had learnt about fashion it was that the right accessories could make all the difference in the world.

“Are you hungry?” Lipsky called from the kitchen.

“Yes,” Kim replied.

She wandered over to a desk. There were all sorts of drawings there. As she got closer she realized they were technical drawings and schematics. Professor Lipsky had talked a little about the process of designing and building machines in the electronics portion of their class. Something about these designs felt familiar. She could have sworn she had seen these before. One design was labeled gravatomic ray. There was another labeled brain switch machine. She went through more of the papers and found more that she recognized: hypertronic devastator drove, annihilation ray, intercontinental electromagneticizer. 

Kim knew all of them! She had seen them before! Every single one of them had been in her dreams!

“Ms. Possible, I have your ramen noodles,” Lipsky said as he came out of the kitchen holding a pair of bowls in his hands. From them came the familiar smell of chicken flavored ramen.

“Professor Lipsky, where did you get all of these drawings from?” Kim asked as she help up the design for the mind drill.

“Oh, those.” Lipsky laughed nervously as he set the bowls of ramen down. “I have dreams about them. When I wake up, I draw the schematics for how I would make them.”

“I see them in my dreams too. I’m usually fighting them or trying to stop them in my dreams.”

There was more to these machines, of the man that had created them. He had started as her enemy. The first few times she had gone up against him in her dreams there had been worry, but after awhile it became familiar. It was more like being friends than being enemies. They went through so much together despite them supposed to be at each others' throats. He was brilliant but had a childish joy and excitement about the world.

The man wasn’t the only one. There was a woman at his side. She was strong and ferocious, but fashionable. In many ways she was a mirror of Kim.

In her dreams, Kim had been jealous of them. She was jealous of both of them. She was jealous of the man for getting to be with the woman. She was jealous of the woman for getting to be with the man. Kim had wanted them. She had wanted to be with both of them. But she had to grow up and accept that she couldn’t always get what she wanted, so she had settled for the safe option, for the friend that worshiped the ground she walked on and would be happy to just be with her. She had told herself she could live like that, that it was the responsible thing to do.

“Kim, are you alright?” Lipsky asked as he stepped closer and put a hand on Kim’s elbow. His lips were turned down into a frown as he looked at her in concern.

“I’m fine…” Kim looked at Professor Lipsky closer. She imagined him with blue skin, a double-breasted jacket, laughing as he controlled a death machine “… Dr. Drakken?”

“That’s the name I’m called in my dreams.”

“I have the same dreams.”

Kim took a chance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. His arms went around her waist and pulled her close to him. This was right. It felt right. 

Then things that weren’t part of her dreams came to her. Dr. Drakken and Shego had changed sides in the end. It was a few months later. Kim took a chance. The breakup with Ron was hard, she still cared deeply for him, but she just didn’t love him the same way that he loved her. It wasn’t fair to him. Then she confessed her feelings, to both Drakken and Shego. Her heart had soared when they told her that they felt the same about her. What had started was one of the most meaningful romantic relationships Kim had ever been in.

Kim and Drakken, because she was sure that he was Dr. Drakken, broke their kiss.

“I don’t understand what is going on,” Kim admitted. “Why do I have dreams about us? It doesn’t make sense. I know what my life has been like for the past few years. I haven’t somersaulted, cartwheeled, or climbed since I was hurt. I can’t fight off supervillains.”

Drakken looked to be in deep thought. “There are a few possibilities.” He yawned. “I think I need to get some sleep first.”

“After food.”

“Right, after food.”

They sat next to each other on the threadbare couch as they ate their noodles. The television was on, but what was being shown was a dreamlike procession of romance and violence, with occasional cute animals thrown in. Kim couldn’t recall what anyone’s face looked like seconds after they were off screen. Kim and Drakken didn’t talk much. She was just enjoying being with him. The only thing that would make this better was if Shego was with there with them.

Once they were done eating, the television was shut off and the bowls were quickly cleaned in the kitchen sink and placed in the drainer to dry off.

“We should get some sleep,” Kim said.

“I agree. We can figure out what is going on tomorrow when we are both fully rested.”

Drakken headed to the bedroom in the back with Kim following him. It wasn’t a discussion that the two of them had with one another. It just felt natural that the two of them would share the same bed together. Kim took off her shoes and set them next to the bed. Drakken did the same, but also took off his tie, button up shirt and glasses as well.

They laid down together, Kim cuddling up close to his body. There was a fleeting thought that it would have been nice if he wrapped a tentacle vine around her, but that was just silly, and she dismissed the idea. Drakken did wrap an arm around her and that was almost as nice as a tentacle vine. 

Kim rested her head on Drakken and let herself fall asleep.

Tomorrow they would figure everything out.

* * *

Kim woke up on the couch. She could smell stale beer and could hear the grunts and screams of a video game.

She shot up. 

She was back at the townhouse. Ron and Wade were playing video games. There were piles of old pizza boxes surrounding them. The townhouse was just as filthy.

Had Kim dreamt the whole previous day? Is that how boring her life was that she didn’t even get to dream of exciting adventures and just dreamt of going through her day?

Kim looked down at herself. She was wearing the khakis from her work uniform and the blouse that she had switched into for class.

Ignoring Ron and Wade, Kim went to the kitchen and the bag she’d asked them to take out was still sitting there, waiting to go outside.

Whatever had happened, yesterday had happened. She didn’t dream it. How did she get back to the townhouse from Drakken’s apartment?

She went back to the living room. Ron and Wade were in the exact same spots as yesterday. They were even playing the same game based on half naked ninja women.

“Ron, what do you call those characters like the ones cheering in the background?”

“NPCs. Non-player characters. It’s any character in the game that isn’t controlled by another person.”

“They don’t do much do they?”

“Sometimes. Some just stay in one place and do the same thing over and over again. Others are enemies and have some type of AI, but it usually isn’t that complex.”

“Thanks,” Kim said. “I’m heading into work.”

She got on her shoes and headed out. Kim needed to go to work. She didn’t plan to do her job. She needed to talk to Sheena. As she walked to the bus stop, she tried to think of her boss. She couldn’t remember his name and his face was just a blur. She could pick out distinguishing things in her mind but couldn’t remember his actual face.

The bus came a few minutes later. The doors opened. Kim forced herself to look at the bus driver’s face and there was nothing there. He had just a vaguely human shaped blob where a face should have been. She resisted the urge to take a step back and instead got on the bus, going to her usual seat.

She looked around at the other people on the bus. They were the same vaguely human blobs as the driver. When she watched out of the window Kim saw them go past the same few houses and stores over and over again. Every time the bus stopped two blobs would get off and two blobs would get on, taking the seats that were just vacated. 

After a ride that felt like it took twice as long, she got off at the stop for Burger Shack. She rushed in as fast as she could with her leg. Behind the counter was Sheena and Kim had never been so happy to see her. 

“Shego!” Kim cried out as she rushed behind the counter and wrapped her arms around her.

“Uh.. hi? What are you doing?” 

“Have you had dreams about working for a man called Dr. Drakken and fighting against a girl?”

“How did you know about those?”

“Because I had the same dreams! I'm the adventurer. Professor Lipsky is Dr. Drakken. Things aren’t right. How many people can you remember the names and faces of?”

“You are crazy. I can remember your name and face. I remember my brothers Henry, Theodore, Wilbert, and William.”

“What’s our boss’ name?” Kim insisted.

“Our boss’ name is…” Shego trailed off. “I can’t remember.”

“What’s the name of any of our coworkers?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can you remember what their faces look like?”

“No.” Shego was getting progressively more agitated as the conversation continued. Kim watched as she tried to think of an answer to the questions and her frown came back.

“Why aren’t you lazy bums working?” Their boss with his face featureless, other than the moustache, was standing in the doorway leading back to his office.

“Shego, do you see that!” Kim pointed at the man’s face.

Shego made a look of disgust. “Ew.” She glanced at Kim. “You mentioned dreams, right?”

Kim nodded.

Shego gestured at their boss and a bolt of green energy shot from her fingers, slamming into his chest, and throwing him back into his office. She looked down at her fingers and gave Kim a wicked grin.

“It never did make sense that I was the only member of my family that didn’t get powers.”

“Let’s go meet up with Drakken,” Kim said.

“Do you know where he is?”

“I was at his apartment.”

Kim and Shego left Burger Shack together, going down to the bus stop. They waited and waited. No bus ever came.

“This isn’t right,” Kim said with her hands on her hips. They’d never had to wait more than a few minutes for the bus to arrive before.

“You think?” Shego sarcastically replied.

“We could always walk there?” Kim turned her head to look at Shego.

“Or we could hotwire a car.” Shego gestured at the stationary cars that were parked here and there. It was rare to see a car on the road, but parked ones were around.

“Shego, that’s illegal!”

“What’s more important, Kimmy: following the rules or getting to Dr. D?”

“Getting to Drakken.” When Shego put it like that it wasn’t even a question. The three of them were all trapped in whatever this was. They had to stick together to keep each other safe, figure out what was going on, and how to escape from it. Kim nodded to Shego. “Do it.”

Shego moved away from Kim and into the nearby car dealership. She circled a black car, looking it up down. Reaching out a hand, she tried the doors. Shego looked surprised as the door opened for it. Getting in the driver’s seat, Shego looked down below the steering wheel. Kim couldn’t see what Shego did, but she could see the look of confusion on her face. The car started and Shego pulled out of the dealership and onto the road, stopping at the bus stop so Kim could get in the passenger side.

“Is everything okay?” Kim asked.

“It was just weird. The car doors don’t have locks and the engine didn’t need a key.”

“That is weird.”

Shego hit the accelerator and drove fast. With the roads being as empty as they were, it was easy. They didn’t even have to deal with pedestrians. While all the buildings were the same few buildings repeated over and over, the street names were at least distinct. It took some trial and error, but Kim was able to give Shego directions to get to Drakken’s apartment. 

Kim was relieved to see Drakken’s car was still parked nearby. Unless he had teleported while he slept, he should still be home. 

Shego didn’t exactly park. She just stopped the car in the middle of the street.

A key was needed to even get into the apartment building. Shego just broke the door down. Not a single apartment door opened for a curious person to check out the noise. 

“His apartment is on the fifth floor,” Kim said.

Shego led the way up the steps. Kim followed close behind her. As they were heading up the fourth flight of stairs the steps under Kim’s feet collapsed. She cried out as she fell. Acting on instinct she grabbed the step ahead of her on her way down. 

“Kimmy?” Shego asked as she looked over her shoulder. With just barely enough time she jumped up the last few steps to the fifth floor as her own steps collapsed. Shego was safe. She turned around and knelt reaching a hand out to Kim. “Grab my hand.”

Kim tried to grab it, but they were just a touch too far away, their fingers just short of meeting. “I can’t reach.”

Beneath her, the steps further down were collapsing in ones and twos.

On her right was the railing. There was a lip on the bottom of it. If she could grab onto the railing and use the lip for her feet maybe she could climb the rest of the way. Kim felt a chill. There was no way that she could do that. Her leg wasn’t strong enough and she hadn’t been in that good of shape since before her fall. The Kim in her dreams could do it easily, but what if that wasn’t who she was? What if she just wasn’t strong enough to do it? What if she fell down to her death? Kim glanced at Shego’s outstretched hand. Shego had the powers from the dreams.

Kim closed her eyes and made a silent plea to herself. 

Her eyes snapped open and she acted.

She pushed off of the stair and turned a quarter turn to her right in midair. Her fingertips grabbed the lip. She brought her feet up and swung like she was on a swing. When she had upward momentum, she had to let go just from the physics involved. Up she went. She grabbed the railing with her hands. Her toes landed on the lip. Kim didn’t think. She just started climbing. When she was close enough, Shego grabbed her and pulled her the rest of the way.

“I did it,” Kim breathlessly said.

Shego rolled her eyes. 

They went to Drakken’s apartment and knocked on the door. The door opened. Drakken was still alarmingly not blue, but his expression was more familiar.

“Perfect, the two of you are right on time. Come in.” 

When Kim and Shego entered the apartment they found a large, complicated machine that now took up most of the apartment. Kim recognized pieces from furniture and appliances in it. 

“I woke up back in the townhouse,” Kim explained.

“Oh? Oh! Your absence this morning. I had just assumed you went out to get coffee.”

Kim laughed. Drakken did lose track of everything when he was involved with inventions or experiments. It looked like he had been productive.

Shego didn’t laugh, but she was smiling a little.

“Are the two of you ready for the test?”

“Yes!”

“Sure, why not?”

Drakken pranced over to a large switch made at least partly from the handle of a freezer door. He flipped it. The machine roared to life and a single light bulb turned on.

“Did you see that?” Drakken said with a gleeful, and slightly maniacal, laughter.

“Oh wow, you discovered light bulbs,” Shego sarcastically said.

“No, the light bulb is just to tell me that it is generating power. You see, this is a bimercurial engine, one of my own designs. It was also one of my most frustrating designs. According to the calculations and the computer simulations it should have worked perfectly, but because of the transitive properties of pro bono non marked partions, it doesn’t actually work in the real world.”

Kim felt everything click into place. “That means since the bimercurial engine worked that we must be in a computer simulation?”

“Exactly!”

“So how do we get out of the computer?” Shego asked.

“I have been thinking about that. Creating a fully realized world filled with people, experiences and events would take a tremendous amount of computing power for even one person, but there are three of us.”

“And maybe more,” Kim added.

Drakken continued. “My guess is that the simulation had preplanned routines for us meant to keep us too busy and miserable to go outside of them by much. When we try to go out of them the program reveals itself in its attempts to stop us. Our best bet is to try and crash the simulation by giving it so much to respond to that it can’t and hope that we don’t die.”

“What do you mean by ‘hope we don’t die’?” Shego demanded.

“Exactly that, we don’t know what shape our bodies are in or even how we are synced to the simulation. We could be nothing more than brains in jars being fed simulations via electrodes.”

“Is there anyway we can find out from in here?” Kim asked.

Drakken shook his head. “If there is it would be a hidden function and I don’t know how we would look for it.”

“That’s fine. I’m looking forward to letting out my aggression on this crappy world.”

“Wait,” Kim said. “I just…” With one hand she took Drakken’s hand and with the other she took Shego’s. “I just want to say that I love the two of you so much. I should have said that more before and I just wanted to say it now.” They didn’t have any choice; they had to try and crash the program but she couldn’t forget Drakken’s words that they might be in worse shape outside of the simulation.

“We’ll have the best chance of success if we split up. That way it will need to respond to three separate instances instead of just one,” Drakken said.

All of them hesitated, even Shego. It was Drakken who moved first, kissing both women. With the first move made, Kim quickly kissed Shego. That was when they split up.

Kim took another parked car, it was as easy to take as Shego had said, she chose a random direction and started to drive. She showed absolutely no care for her driving. Kim hit other cars, ran over mailboxes and more. When she saw the Burger Shack, she floored it and crashed it through the front windows. The glass shattered but the car was completely undamaged.

She drove through the plastic seating and out one of the other windows. Ahead of her was a sudden traffic jam. She turned the wheel and drove onto the sidewalk, bypassing the jam by going through people’s yards. Kim didn’t relent, driving over yard after yard as the traffic jam in the roads showed no end. 

When the car crashed through a fence, Kim felt a sharp pain at her temples.

* * *

Kim opened her eyes. She was laying on a bed inside of a glass pod. There was something attached to her temples, it looked like a mechanical device from what she could see through her peripheral vision. Kim pushed the lid of the pod open and sat up, ripping the mechanical device off and throwing it away from her. On either side of her, Shego and Drakken were doing the same thing. On Drakken’s far side she could see Ron, still completely out of it in his own pod.

She stood up and almost fell back down again. She must have been in there awhile; her legs weren’t used to holding her up. At least none of them looked any older than they were supposed to be. She’d been a little worried about waking up as an old woman. 

“Are you guys alright?” Kim asked.

“I’m alright,” Drakken said.

“Same.”

That was what was important to her. They were alright. They could figure out how to rescue Ron once they dealt with whichever badguy was responsible for trapping them.

Using the pod for support, Kim slowly walked forward, feeling more confidant in her legs with each step. By the time she got to the end, she felt almost 100%.

“How long were we out?” Kim asked.

“How would we know?” Shego said. “Can we just go beat up whoever is responsible for that already?”

Kim playfully said, “Alright, Sheena Gough.”

“Sheena Gough! Is that your real name, Shego?” Drakken asked, absolutely delighted in hearing this most top secret of info.

“I don’t care if you two are my lovers, call me that again and you _will_ die.” Her glare was real, but the threat wasn’t.

“What about Ron? He isn’t waking up,” Kim said.

“He must not have been trying to crash the program. I might be able to wake him up later, but I don’t know how long it will take,” Drakken said.

Kim looked at Ron. He wasn’t Drakken or Shego, but he was still her best friend. She loved him, just not in the same way that she loved the two of them. The idea of leaving him behind hurt. She didn’t even like thinking of it, but this time she didn’t think she had a choice. Hopefully he would be safe in his pod until they could come back for him.

“We’ll come back for him. I’m so sorry, Ron.”

Once all three of them were comfortable standing. They left the unlocked door. Kim took the lead and Shego brought up the rear. They kept Drakken in between them. Anyone that would attack would have to get through one of them to get at him.

Nothing stood out in the hallways. It was standard secret villain lair. There were metal walls, doors, random consoles that might or might not be important. They didn’t discuss where to go. All three knew how evil lairs were typically laid out.

They found a large room with a man wearing a pair of pajamas in an ornate chair and talking to world leaders through a computer. His back was to the three of them and he didn’t notice their entrance. Resting on the arm of his chair was a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. A big pillow was on the chair with him, and he clutched tight a stuffed orange teddie bear.

“Now, Mr. President, my demands are now up to three trillion dollars. Don’t forget that I’m the only one that can wake up the people of Tennessee. Or do I need to put a few more states to sleep? If you make me do that then my price is only going to go up and up. This stuff is expensive, and I can’t go around losing money.”

“Sweet Dreams, please, there are innocent people in Tennessee and how do I know that you are even capable of waking up anyone? If you woke up just one county, as a sign of good will and to show that you can actually make good on your promise that would go a long way to make me consider your demand.” The President was presenting a cool and collected front to Sweet Dreams. If he was worried about what was going on then he didn’t show it at all.

“It’s not a demand,” Sweet Dreams said as he slammed his fist into his chair, causing the glass of milk and plate of cookies balanced on the arm to fall onto the floor. “It’s just a request.” He contradicted his own words.

Kim, Drakken, and Shego walked up behind Sweet Dreams.

“It’s over, Sweet Dreams,” Kim said.

Sweet Dreams spun around in his chair and screamed at the sigh of them. He pulled his feet up onto his chair, his feet rocking back and forth on the edge. “No, how did you escape from Nighty Nighty? It should have been impossible.”

Drakken laughed at those familiar words coming from someone else.

“Shego, you take care of Sweet Dreams,” Kim said.

“With pleasure,” Shego said as she yanked him out of the chair.

“Drakken, you work on waking everyone up.”

Drakken approached one side of the console. “Child’s play.”

Kim sat in the chair that Sweet Dreams had sat in until recently. “Mr. President, this is Kim Possible. Everything is under control here and we are ready for you to send the authorities to come arrest Sweet Dreams.”

“Thank you, Kim Possible. We feared the worst after we lost contact with your team.”

“We just were taking a little nap.”

A man stepped into frame and whispered something into the President’s ear that Kim couldn’t hear. The man stepped away and out of the picture.

“I’ve just been informed that the people of Tennessee have begun to wake up. This nation owes you a great debt.”

Kim shook her head. “It was Dr. Drakken that woke everyone up. I told you that you wouldn’t regret granting that pardon.”

When the authorities arrived, Sweet Dreams was eager to be arrested as long as it would get him far away from Shego. Dr. Drakken had everyone awake in Tennessee. There was only one loose string to tie up.

Kim was standing to the side of Ron’s pod looking down at him. Shego was learning against the wall, with her arms crossed, acting completely indifferent to what was going on, if not bored. Drakken was at the controls for Ron’s pod.

Drakken had tried to explain why Ron had to be woken up separately from everyone else. The explanation had included a great deal of science and technical jargon, but what it had boiled down to was that it was a different system than the one that could put a large number of people asleep and that is why more care had to be taken with external waking.

“Remember, there is a chance that he won’t survive waking up,” Drakken said. He looked at her.

Kim bit her lip and nodded. “I understand. But that’s no way to live. His parents, his sister, Yori, so many people would miss him and he’d never get to experience anything else. We have to wake him up.”

Drakken tapped a few buttons and turned a dial.

Ron’s eyes fluttered briefly before opening up.

“Oh, hey KP,” Ron said as he sat up. “I had the most wonderful dream. I was in a never-ending gaming marathon with Wade. You were in it too. The three of us and Monique were all living together.” Ron sighed. “It was complete heaven.”

“I saw. We were all having the same dream,” Kim said.

“You were all dreaming about playing video games with Wade?”

* * *

Kim woke up in bed. She could feel heat next to her. The soft snores told her it was Shego.

Sitting up, Kim looked down at the sleeping Shego. She looked so sweet when sleeping, with all of her defenses down. Kim brushed Shego’s black hair aside and pressed a kiss to her lips.

Kim got out of bed and headed into the kitchen. Drakken was hard at work cooking a large breakfast. There were pancakes, bacon, eggs, coffee, and fresh fruit. He moved easily from dish to dish just as easily as if he was balancing multiple experiments.

She sat down and looked at him through the window between the kitchen and the dining room. He looked so much better with blue skin. 

“Did you sleep well?” Drakken asked.

“I did. You two really wore me out last night.”

Drakken flushed slightly. 

“I wanted to know something.” Drakken seemed nervous. “Did you like me better in there?”

“No. This is the real you and I wouldn’t trade that for any other version of you.”

Drakken plated the food. There were three plates for the three of them.

Shego walked in. She still looked half asleep as she dropped into her favorite seat. A cup of coffee was quickly pressed into her hands, which she immediately began drinking.

“Sheena Gough is my birth name,” Shego said. She looked uncomfortably, almost fidgety as she admitted that.

“You’ll always be Shego to me,” Drakken said.

“Same. Shego is a much better name,” Kim sad.

Shego gave one of her sincere smiles. “Thanks.”

Plates of food were put in front of both women and Drakken joined them at the table with his own plate of food and coffee.

“I really did have a bad fall in cheerleading.” That part had been real. “But I got lucky. I was just scratched up and had a sprain. The doctors said that it was a one in a million chance that I got off as easily as I did. They said that I should have a career ending injury and that it could have been as bad as being paralyzed.” Kim didn’t like to dwell on that. She didn’t like to think about how she was fine entirely because of chance when so many other cheerleaders had gone through far worse. It was one thing to be badly hurt when fighting villains, it was another thing from cheerleading.

The Nighty Night had brought out something that none of them talked about much. Drakken was self-conscious about his appearance. Shego hated her birth name. Kim having to deal with what could have happened to her if it hadn’t been for pure, dumb luck. 

“Come on,” Kim said as she took their hands.

“But what about breakfast?” Drakken protested.

“It’ll just take a moment,” Kim said.

She stood up and the other two followed her. Kim let go of their hands so she could wrap her arms around both of them, pulling them close so that all three of them touched.

“You two are both perfect like this.”

Drakken was starting to cry. Shego would never admit it if asked, but Kim could tell that she was a little watery eyed.

“You still would have become a worrisome problem, no matter what,” Drakken said. Kim could tell that he completely believed what he was saying, that he wasn’t lying for her benefit.

“You just would have been a different type of thorn in our sides,” Shego added. There was no sarcasm or annoyance in her voice, just a soft earnestness that Kim had only heard when she was Miss Go.

Hearing those words from the two people who had once been her greatest enemies, who knew her better than anyone else in the world, both her strengths and weaknesses, it meant more than Kim could ever express. Now they were her greatest loves, and she knew just how great their love for her was.

“I love both of you so much.”

“Now, can we eat breakfast?” Shego asked impatiently.

“Yeah,” Kim said as she nodded her head. She let go of them so that they could all sit down and enjoy the delicious breakfast that Drakken had made for them.

Their next adventure would come soon enough, but for now, Kim was content to just have breakfast with Drakken and Shego.

When she had woken up in the simulation, she had felt like she was missing a part of herself. She didn’t feel like she was missing anything anymore.


End file.
